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Jn ittemoriam. 



JOHN A. ROEBLING. 



BORN JUNE 12, 1806. 
DIED JULY 22, 1869. 



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FUNERAL SERVICES. 



Sunday, July 25th, 1869, being the day appointed 
for the performance of the burial services over the 
remains of our beloved fellow-citizen, John A. 
Roebling, Esq., multitudes came to attend the 
funeral, and look for the last time upon one, whom 
all respected and honored. The body of the de- 
ceased was placed in the south room of the family 
mansion, being deposited in a casket of solid rose- 
wood, lined with white satin. Upon the coffin 
various wreaths of flowers were placed ; on the table, 
near the remains, was a beautiful cross and crown 
of tube roses. The plate on the inside of the lid 
bore the following inscription : 

JOHN AUGUSTUS ROEBLING, 

DIED 

July 22, 1869, 

AGED 

63 Years and 1 Month. 

The countenance of the deceased was natural and 
life-like. It had three things impressively written 
upon it — uprightness, benevolence, and peace. 

The hour of service appointed was two in the 
afternoon, but the thousands pressing in to gaze 
once more upon the familiar features, prevented the 
commencement of the funeral rites until after three 
P. M. The Rev. Mr. Gardner offered up a fervent 



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and appropriate prayer in the German language, 
followed by an address from Rev. John Hall, D.D., 
after which the procession formed, and consisted of 
the following clergymen : 

Rev. Mr. Passavant, of Pittsburgh. 

Rev. John Hall, D.D., of 1st Pres. Church, Trenton. 

Rev. G. F. Gardner, of the German Lutheran 
Church. 

Rev. Albert U. Stanley, of Trinity Epis. Church. 

Rev. John C. Brown, of St. Paul's Epis. Church. 

The Pall Bearers were — 
Hon. Henry C. Murphy, Col. Julius W. Adams, 
Hon. Horatio Allen, Hon. Andrew H. Green, 

Charles Hewitt, Esq.. Timothy Abbott, Esq., 

Samuel K. Wilson, Esq., Alfred S.Livingston, Esq. 

Following the remains were the family and imme- 
diate relatives in carriages. 

The Mayor and Council of the city of Trenton. 

The Board of Trade of the city of Trenton. 

The workmen from Roebling's wire mill. 

Several Companies of the Fire Department, and 
citizens, with many from other cities. The pro- 
cession, nearly a mile in length, passed through 
Broad, Greene and State streets to the Mercer 
Cemetery. Here the solemn and beautiful service 
for the dead, in the Episcopal Liturgy, was read by 
the Rev. Albert U. Stanley and the Rev. John C. 
Brown, and the mortal remains of John A. Roebling 
were committed to the bosom of mother earth, 
" ashes to ashes, dust to dust," awaiting the peal of 
the last trumpet, and the resurrection morn. 



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— — ^^m^— ^^—^— ■^■m— a 



SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WORKS 



OF 



Mr. John A. Roebling, a native of Prussia, born 
June 12th, 1806, in the city of Mulhausen, in 
Thuringia. He received the usual academic in- 
struction, and after a course of study in the Royal 
Polytechnic School at Berlin, he graduated with the 
degree of Civil Engineer. It is noteworthy that so 
early in his career as these college days he began to 
give study to the question of suspension bridges, and 
made them the subject of his graduating thesis. His 
degree from the Royal School required him to serve 
three years in the service of the State, and these he 
spent mostly in the superintendence of public works 
in Westphalia. Shortly after the close of this 
service, he emigrated, at the age of twenty -five, to 
this country, and settled in the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, which his genius was to do much to make 
prosperous and prominent in manufactures and 
trade. His home was made near Pittsburgh, where 
the Monongahela and Alleghany unite to form the 
Ohio. This region was then almost the frontier of 
the advancing population of the United States. Mr. 
Roebling bought a tract of wild lands, and set him- 
self with much vigor and persistence to reducing 



JOHN A.. EOEBLHSTG-. 



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6 

them to tillable condition, and to building up about 
him a village of frontiersmen. About this time, the 
energies of what were until recently the " Middle 
States," were turned to the aim of improving trans- 
portation by a s} 7 stem of canals and slack water 
navigation on the rivers. In this work Mr. Roebling 
first engaged as an engineer in America. His first 
engagement was on the Beaver river, a tributary of 
the Ohio ; and he was subsequently connected with 
an enterprise for uniting the Ohio river with Lake 
Erie, by what was known as the Sandy and Beaver 
canal, an enterprise which failed before the rising 
popularity of steam railways. He next entered the 
employment of the State, located a feeder for the 
Pennsylvania Canal, on the Upper Alleghany, and 
then w T as engaged in surveying and locating routes 
for what is now the Pennsylvania Central route 
across the Alleghany Mountains, from Harrisburgh 
to Pittsburgh, the work being commenced by the 
State. 

At this point in his career, Mr. Roebling, with a 
rich experience in the ordinary departments of his 
profession, and a recognized reputation as an accu- 
rate, able, and original engineer, made in his occupa- 
tion in life, which was to mark it decidedly thence- 
forth, and which brought him more boldly into view 
in connection with the great growth of intercommu- 
nication in our conntry than any other single man, 
unless it be the discoverer of steam or the inventor 
of its application to land and water transportation. 
He engaged in the manufacture of iron wire, a 
business which he has never yet abandoned, and in 



which he acquired that unequalled knowledge of the 
nature, capabilities, and requirements in the use of 
wire which has enabled him to revolutionize the 
building of bridges. It was twenty-five years ago 
that Mr. Roebling first applied wire to the support 
of weights which had been before entrusted only to 
stone piers or arches ; and the boldness with which 
he made the application is characteristic of the man. 
The problem before him was to erect a wooden 
aqueduct for the Pennsylvania canal across the Alle- 
ghauy river, in the period of nine months, including 
the winter of 1844-45. Mr. Roebling took the con- 
tract, as the lowest bidder, and proposed to carry 
across a wooden trunk to hold the water, supported 
by a continuous wire cable, seven inches in diameter, 
on each side. The proposition was unusually 
ridiculed by the profession* who prophesied that it 
would only need that the water should be turned 
into it to effect the instant and disastrous ruin of the 
structure. Mr. Roebling knew differently. Within 
the specified time, in spite of the rigors of the winter 
and the complicated difficulties encountered in the 
novelty of the machinery by which his cables were 
made in place, Mr. Roebling completed successfully 
the task allotted. About the same time, or soon 
after, Mr. Roebling built the Monongahela bridge 
across the river of that name at Pittsburgh. It is 
erected on the piers of a former structure and con- 
sists of eight spans of 188 feet each, supported by 
two four-and-a-half inch cables ; a peculiarity of the 
bridge is the pendulum principle applied to counter- 
balance adjoining spans under the action of unequal 



8 



loads. The bridge cost $54,000 only, and is still a 
stable and permanent structure, being more used 
now than ever before. 

In 1848, three years after the construction of the 
Pittsburgh aqueduct, Mr. Roebling carried on the 
erection of four similar works on the line of the 
Delaware and Hudson canal, connecting the great 
anthracite coal region with the tide waters of the 
Hudson river. They were as follows : 

Lackawaxen aqueduct — 2 spans, 115 feet each, 
and 27-inch cables. 

Delaware aqueduct — 4 spans, 134 feet each, and 
28-inch cables. 

High Falls aqueduct — 1 span, 134 feet, 8 J inch 
cable. 

Neversink aqueduct — 1 span, 170 feet, 94 inch 
cable. 

All are permanent works, and require only the 
replacement of the wooden portions as they wear 
out. 

Mr. Roebling, who had now removed his works, 
and established them and his residence at Trenton, 
New Jersey, was called on to undertake the first of 
the series of great bridges with which his name 
became subsequently so intimately connected. For 
a long time the need had been felt of bridging the 
chasm of the Niagara river, to connect the Central 
Railroad of New York and the Great Western Rail- 
way of Canada, a purpose that could only be accom- 
plished by what was at that time a complete novelty 
— a railway suspension bridge. In 1851, Mr. Roeb- 
ling undertook the task, working at it uninterrupt- 



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9 



edly for four years, in spite of the fearful Canada 
cold, until, in March, 1855, the first locomotive and 
train passed. This remains to this day, so far as we 
now recall, the only example of its kind — i. e., of a 
railroad suspension bridge of any magnitude. The 
bridge has a clear span of 825 feet, and is supported 
bv four wire cables of ten inches in diameter, It 
has two floors, the upper one for railway tracks, and 
the lower for ordinary vehicles and foot passengers ; 
these two rods are connected by struts and diagonal 
tension rods, so that the superstructure of the bridge 
forms, in fact, a continuous hollow girder, stiff 
enough to support the action of a rolling load, the 
weight, however, being supported by the cables. 

About the same time, Mr. Roebling undertook a 
railway suspension bridge across the Kentucky, on 
the line of the Southern Railroad, leading from 
Cincinnati to Chattanooga, which, if it had been 
completed, would have been more important than 
the Niagara bridge, the Kentucky at this point being- 
wider and deeper than the former river, and re- 
quiring a clear span of 1224 feet. 

The towers of the bridge were erected, the an- 
chorages completed, most of the wire and other 
material was delivered, when the railroad company 
collapsed. 

Mr. Roebling's next most important work, and, 
with the exception of the Alleghany bridge, at Pitts- 
burgh, his only remaining important work, was the 
Cincinnati bridge. 

This connects two cities, two States, and was 
meant, at the time of its inauguration, to make the 



10 

link between the free and slave territory in the 
United States. It lies between Cincinnati, on the 
northern side of the Ohio, and Covington, on the 
southern side. The idea of its erection originated 
with a few enterprising men in the smaller town, 
who raised some $300,000 towards its completion. 
This was in 1856, and work was commenced and 
carried to the completion of the towers to the level 
of the floorway. Then the crash of '57 gave a 
check, which was not overcome for five vears. In 
1862, in the gloom and depression of the war, these 
brave western cities again took up the great task, 
and carried steadily forward to completion the only 
public work then performed by private capital in 
the Union. In December, 1866, the bridge was 
opened for foot-passengers, and in January, 1867, 
for trains and vehicles. 

The bridge is 1005 feet clear span from the outer 
edges of the towers, and 1619 feet between the 
abutments or anchorages. The floor is 103 feet 
above low water mark in the centre, and 91 feet at 
the towers. The roadway is twenty feet wide, and 
the sidewalks seven feet each. The roadway is 
traversed lengthwise through its centre by two 
wrought iron girders, one eighteen inches deep, the 
other nine inches deep, together making a combined 
girder of twenty-eight inches in depth. At each 
side of the roadway is a truss ten feet deep, thus 
giving great stiffness and strength to the arch itself. 
The flooring is suspended by two wire cables 12 1-3 
inches in diameter, which pass over the towers and 
are anchored firmlv in the abutments. This is, in 



11 

brief, a description of the construction of the bridge, 
of which further details would not interest or inform 
the average reader. Mr. Roebling regarded it as a 
perfect structure, not only the best yet attained in 
any country, but erected on a principle which never 
can be superseded. 

The only bridge of Mr. Roebling's it remains to 
refer to is that over the Alleghany, at Pittsburgh, 
which is suspended on three towers in two spans. 

The last great work on which Mr. Roebling was 
engaged was the East River Bridge, a project more 
magnificent in its dimensions, and more important 
in its certain influence on the prosperity of the vast 
population in and near New York, than anything of 
the kind ever before undertaken in this countrv. 
Mr. Roebling's plans for this great undertaking 
exhibit the same boldness in scope, the same solid 
confidence in the splendid ability that had never 
failed him, that were shown in the first suspension 
aqueduct at Pittsburgh, the first railway suspension 
bridge at Niagara, and the greater undertaking over 
the Kentucky. It is sufficient to say that his repu- 
tation, world-wide as it may in all moderation be 
said to have been, sustained the gigantic project 
before the people, and carried it to the success which 
has thus far attended it. It is certain that in the 
last ordeal to which the plans were submitted, the 
inspection of the Government Commissioners — most 
accomplished and competent, as well as conscientious 
officers — Mr. Roebling's name was all-powerful. 



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12 



ACTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE 
NEW YORK BRIDGE COMPANY. 

Brooklyn, July 24th, 1869. 

The Board of Directors of the New York Bridge 
Company met at noon to-day, at the office of the 
Brooklyn Gas Light Company, to take into conside- 
ration the death of the engineer of the Bridge, Mr. 
John A. Roebling. 

Hon. H. C. Murphy presided, and Isaac Van Anden 
was elected Secretary. 

The Chairman moved, seconded by Mayor Kalb- 
tliesch, the adoption of the following resolutions : 

Resolved, 1. This Board receives the death of John A. Eoebling, 
Esq., with the deepest concern and sorrow. Connected with him offi- 
cially for a considerable period, we had learned to appreciate his 
unsurpassed merits as an engineer and advisor in our work, and to 
admire his eminent genius and virtues as a man. In all the qualities 
which exalt human nature he deserved and had won our unqaalified 
confidence and esteem. Regarding his death as a great loss, we bow 
with humble submission to the inscrutable ways of an all-wise 
Providence in taking him from us in the midst of usefulness and 
labors. 

Resolved, 2. We sincerely condole with his wife and family in the 
dispensation now dealt to them, in the loss of a husband, father, and 
friend, and tender them our sincere sympathy and consolation in 
their affliction. 

Resolved, 3. As a tribute of respect to Mr. Roebling's memory, the 
members of this Board will attend his funeral at Trenton to-morrow. 

The resolutions were adopted unanimosly. Ad- 
journed. 

I. Van Anden, Sec*y. 



13 



ACTION OF THE BOARD OF TRADE OF THE 
CITY OF TRENTON, N. J. 

At a meeting of the Board of Trade of the city 
of Trenton, N. J., the following Preamble and Reso- 
lutions were adopted in respect to the memory of 
Mr. Roebling : 

Whereas, the melancholy tidings have reached the members of this 
Board, that their President, John A. Eoebling, has departed this life 
in consequence of an injury accidentally received while superintend- 
ing an important work of civil engineering in the city of Brooklyn, 
they have met together for the purpose of giving expression of their 
feelings in regard to this most sad event, which has at once deprived 
a worthy and estimable family of a most excellent and affectionate 
husband and parent, and a community of a most valuable citizen ; 

And whereas, the deceased has been for many years a prominent 
and respected citizen of this vicinity, always among the first to pro- 
mote every useful enterprise, and always ready to aid liberally in all 
the public and private charities without ostentation or display ; there- 
fore be it 

Resolved, That the Board of Trade of the city of Trenton deplores 
with profound sorrow his unexpected and untimely death, and while 
bearing testimony to the integrity of character which has been so 
conspicuously displayed by the deceased in a long and active life, and 
to the charitableness of his disposition, by which his purse was 
freely opened, not only for the support of public charities, but also 
for the relief of private indigence, hereby tenders to his wife and 
iamily, and the community of which he was a useful member, its 
heartfelt condolence for their unfortunate bereavement. 

Resolved, That the Board would hereby acknowledge the services 
rendered to it by the deceased in its organization, and subsequently 
as its President, and recommends the Executive Committee to adopt 
such suitable symbols of mourning in the rooms of the Board as they 
may deem proper. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be engrossed at length 
in the minutes of the Board, published in the city papers, and copies 
sent to the family of the deceased, by the Secretary.. 

Resolved, That the members of the Board of Trade attend the 
funeral in a body. 



DR. HALLS REMARKS. 



Dr. Hall spoke in substance as follows : 

This is not the time to speak at large of the char- 
acter and services of the deceased as a public man. 
The daily press has already furnished a sketch of 
his interesting history, from his birth and education 
in Europe to his career after adopting our country as 
his home. Of that career the best monuments are 
found in what his genius and skill accomplished — first 
in the canals, railways and aqueducts of Pennsyl- 
vania, and then more conspicuously in the great 
specialty of his talents, the suspension bridges over 
the Niagara and the Ohio, and it may well be added, 
the complete plans for one that is to connect New 
York with Long Island. These great works tell of 
the intellectual and practical engineer, and the sci- 
entific manufacturer of the materials of which his 
works are constructed. But here, in his home, in 
this host of sad and many weeping faces, we find 
the memorials of another and a higher character ; 
one that was built up silently, with no demonstra- 
tion of what was going on except the good that was 
done and the example that was set. Here are the 




15 

witnesses of his integrity, liberality and benevolence. 
Here are those who were the almoners of his bounty 
to orphans' and widows' institutions, by annual ap- 
propriations of an amount that of itself secured 
their efficiency. These bands of workmen — coming 
not alone, but with their wives and children — testify 
that they knew him, not only in the workshops or 
by the pay-roll, but as the friend of their families. 
Here is the lesson which men of capital and em- 
ployers are summoned by Providence this day to 
learn, to admire and to practise. This scene is a 
touching rebuke, in corroboration of what all true 
social science teaches, to those who look upon the 
laboring classes as only so much machinery from 
which they may obtain as much work with as little 
cost as possible. This man was the friend, as well 
as the employer of his people, and they knew they 
could at any time appeal to him as such. I am glad 
to have the opportunity of making these remarks in 
the hearing of the numerous representatives of the 
wealth and enterprise of the American metropolis, 
who have done themselves, as well as their deceased 
coadjutor, honor in coming to his burial. 

And they, and all of us, have another lesson to lay 
to heart from this scene ; and in presenting it I am 
supported by his own authority ; for it was his be- 
lief, and reiterated by him within a few weeks, that 
the Divine Providence is never superseded by what 
is commonly called chance, whether in disaster or 
success. Whatever place circumstances may have 
in the immediate cause of our friend's decease, the 
light in which we are bound to regard it for our own 



mn «i.n.m..j-»u. ... .1 



16 

instruction is this : That lifeless body was but lately 
the very seat of intelligence, energy and expectation; 
he was in the act of beginning the greatest work of 
his life ; he was, at the very moment of his fall, 
searching for the right spot to lay the first stone of 
the structure that was to crown his honorable ambi- 
tion, and to reward the immense intellectual appli- 
cation of years ; and just at that moment — at the 
humble, unobserved point of its beginning, and not 
at the celebration of its perfection — the trivial inci- 
dent took place which resulted as we see. " Man 
dieth, and wasteth away ; yea, man giveth up the 
ghost, and where is he ?" What befel Roebling may 
befall us. The lesson is not to discourage enterprise, 
to write folly on our great undertakings, or to con- 
demn the application of our minds and hands to 
works that we may not live to complete, but it is to 
make us feel, as I believe he felt, that we and all our 
projects, our capacities, our existence, are in the 
hands of God — God the good, the wise, the merciful, 
as well as the Omnipotent, and that we are not act- 
ing according to our true position and best interests, 
unless we recognize this fact in practice, as well as 
in theory. We are responsible to Him for our prin- 
ciples and our conduct, in the dailv business of our 
lives. He has given us His law and gospel, His writ- 
ten word and Incarnate Son, for our instruction and 
direction ; and it is only as we live in accordance 
with this fixed system of truth, that we are faithful 
men. Those who knew Mr. Roebling well, feel as- 
sured that the reason why, in the midst of prevail- 
ing corruption of morals in regard to public and pri- 



17 

vate transactions, he held fast his integrity above all 
suspicion, was not merely that he had what is known 
as common honesty, but that which is produced by 
a manly, Christian fear of God. It is death that at 
once terminates our work on earth, and carries us to 
meet its retribution ; and the sudden, violent end of 
this man's course, safe, as we trust it was for him, is 
the admonition to each one of us to be ready for our 
great account at the most unexpected moment. 

And I should not speak so hopefully, if not con- 
fidently, of his example in this respect, if I had not 
the best testimony that, concurrently with the sci- 
entific and mechanical subjects which occupied his 
thoughts and studies, it was a habit of his mind to 
meditate upon the subject of practical religion. That 
he could 7 would and did find time for such investiga- 
tions, is another of the suggestions which the occa- 
sion brings to us. To all of us here present, whether 
our occupations be more intellectual or manual, 
whether we belong to one class or another of the 
workers in busy life, the lesson comes home that no 
amount or kind of employment can excuse us for 
neglecting the inquiries that pertain to our souls, 
their duties and salvation. Except that of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, " there is none other name under 
heaven given among men, whereby we must be 
saved." He is " the way, the truth and the life ; no 
man cometh unto the Father but by Him ;" and He 
is accessible to every penitent, believing and obedient 
one, without the necessity of any other mediation, 
whether in the persons of men, or in any organiza- 
tion of men, whether called priests or church. At 



18 



the cross of this Redeemer — at the throne of this 
Intercessor — each one of us may find all we need, if 
through his Spirit, we bring a broken and a contrite 
heart, and follow him as our Lord and Teacher, as 
well as Saviour. 

As a husband, father and friend, this circle of rela- 
tives await no testimony from strangers ; and no 
words of ours can comfort them now so well as their 
knowledge of his character, and the remembrance of 
his affection and fidelity. It is but a few weeks* 
since some of us witnessed in this mansion the genial 
position he held in his family, as we were present 
with him at the marriage of a daughter. But pain- 
ful as is the contrast of the two assemblages, there 
was a character in that which gives tenderness to the 
emotions of this. It was a strong, fatherly heart 
that was then rejoicing in the happiness of those he 
most loved — it is such a heart they do now and will 
ever remember. Only let them all honor his memory 
and example in the way which they know would be 
most pleasing to him — by receiving this affliction as 
a Divine intimation that the first and the last end of 
being is to have our life hid with Christ in God. 

*June 3, 1869. 



SERMON. 



PREACHED BY REV. J. C. BROWN, AT ST. PAULAS CHURCH, 



SUNDAY, AUGUST 8TH. 



He being dead yet speaketh. — Hebrews, xi — 4. 

Standing as I do to-day, within sight of the 
earthly mansion, and surrounded on all sides by 
those who were intimately acquainted with the 
worth and virtues of him whose departure from us 
to the better land is so universally deplored, I feel 
it both a privilege and a duty to testify before you 
this day, to the memory of one so greatly beloved, 
and have chosen the words of the text as eminently 
suitable to this solemn occasion. 

The text, brethren, is applicable to every member 
of the human family, when removed from the scenes 
of earth. Whatever may have been his position in 
society, high or low, rich or poor, learned or un- 
learned, gifted by talent or undistinguished from 
the mass of his fellow men, we know that when the 
" silver cord is loosed, and the gofden bowl broken," 
man's influence for weal or woe still continues, and 
an effect goes forth, shaping the current of many a 
future event — u He being dead yet speaketh." 



20 

But the power with which this voice comes to us, 
varies with the character, the position and the 
influence, which the departed may have occupied. 
The lives of some are like the sea anemone, their 
bodies confined to one spot they pass the day in 
waiting for the coming and returning tide, that 
leaves them ever the same. They speak to us of 
days misspent, opportunities for usefulness neglect- 
ed. They leave the world no better and perhaps no 
worse for their having lived upon it. But there are 
others who have mapped out for themselves a new 
path ; whose works shall be their monuments for 
countless generations to come ; whose name shall be 
blessed and held in memory by the widow and the 
orphan, as well as by the lover of his fellow man, 
and the devotee of science. 

Such an event has just happened in our midst. A 
great and good man has fallen, and it will be long 
before another shall rise up and take his place in 
this community, or fill the position he occupied in 
the engineering and scientific world. 

" He being dead, yet speaketh." 

1st, I would notice the industry and application 
of the departed as worthy of our imitation. Few 
men rise to positions of eminence by natural gifts 
alone. Genius itself can never exert continuous 
power, without study — intense study. What to us 
seems easy and simple, graceful and beautiful, has 
been the labored creation of the brain ; requiring 
sleepless nights, weary days and months of toil. 
You may gaze in admiration at the graceful structure 
that, seen from Niagara's brink, seems in the dim 



21 

distance like a fairy bridge suspended on threads of 
gossamer. But stand upon it, hear the panting of 
the locomotive above you, and the rumbling of the 
heavily laden train, and you will, in faint measure, 
begin to realize the study, labor and toil, by which 
alone that mighty chasm was bridged over, and 
made safe as the solid earth. 

You intuitively appreciate the many years of 
close application necessary to the developement of 
the mighty plan, and the skill and patient toil 
required for its completion. But few men have the 
commanding genius for the inception and successful 
prosecution of so .great a work. 

Such a man was John A. Roebling. His position 
in his native land gave him all the advantages of an 
early education of the highest kind. 

His studies as an engineer, while young, laid the 
basis of his after life of diligence and greatness ; 
and so, up to the close of life ; whether in the wilds 
of Pennsylvania, in the crowded city, or in the quiet 
of his home, he was still found active and diligent 
in business, whether public or private, never at a 
loss ; in every emergency wisely suggesting counsel 
and advice. 

There is here a lesson for all, especially the 
young. You cannot fill a commanding position in 
the world as a mechanic, engineer, scholar, or 
statesman, without long, continuous study and 
application. You have, in the character of him 
who has gone to his eternal rest, whose fame is 
world-wide, who had no enemies, and retained all 
his friends, I say, you have in his character, an 



22 



illustrious instance of the working man — a man 
attentive to and diligent in his business, performing 
his duty, not for selfish gain, nor interest, nor 
applause, but in order to fulfill his duty and discharge 
the trusts reposed in him. And hence, he has 
earned that which is better than sordid wealth, or 
tinsel honors, or public notoriety. He lives in the 
respect and affection of every one in this our broad 
land, who honors honest industry, and appreciates 
commanding genius. But above all he lives in the 
hearts of the widow and orphan ; and many a tear 
has been shed by the humble, the sick and afflicted, 
at the loss of such a friend. Brethren, he is already 
missed in our community, and the question has 
more than once been asked, " Who shall supply his 
place V 

But the second noticeable trait in the character 
of the deceased, was his patriotism, his loyalty, his 
true fidelity and love for his adopted country. He 
was an American citizen, and proud to be called 
such. In all that concerned the welfare of this 
great republic he felt a deep interest. True patriot- 
ism is a virtue, and ought to be so esteemed by 
every citizen in the land, whether native or foreign 
born. Patriotism takes its rise, not in mere love of 
race, or in bigotry which is blind to faults, and 
proud of its very blindness ; but it originates in a 
universal love of liberty — which rightly clings to 
and defends its own honor and best interests, while 
it wishes peace and prosperity, success and happi- 
ness to others. Such was the patriotism of our 
departed friend. He well knew that the welfare of 



the whole nation is intimately connected with the 
conduct of each individual in it, and that the spirit 
of self-regard and of personal responsibility, are 
bound up with the true spirit of patriotism, and 
therefore if the latter be wanting, or if it be neg- 
lected, trifled with, or abused, collectively or indi- 
vidually, we must suffer from it. It was this true 
patriotism, and the feeling of individual responsi- 
bility which led the departed to propose, at the 
beginning of the rebellion, that the amount of 
$100,000 should be raised to arm and equip volun- 
teers for the service. No provision had then been 
made by the State of New Jersey, and as an 
individual he felt that something must be done. 
He himself subscribed liberally, and urged others to 
subscribe of their abundance. The money, however, 
was not needed, as the State soon after made boun- 
tiful provision for the service. But so deeply inter- 
ested was he that he personally visited Washington, 
and urged upon the Government decided, vigorous 
measures. Prompt in action, he was always found 
doing his best for his country in her hour of peril. 
He knew the value of one country, undivided and 
united ; whose boundaries the Atlantic and Pacific 
alone can define, now and forever, one and insepar- 
able. He knew no North nor South, East or West. 
Yes, " In this he being dead, yet speaketh." 

But in the next place, J. A. Roebling was 
especially distinguished for his benevolence — his 
sympathy for the suffering and afflicted. He was 
not content with idle wishes, fruitless theories, 
abortive projects for the well-being of his fellow 



24 



men. He not only thought but acted. He not 
only professed good will but rendered service. He 
felt that all his qualifications, physical, mental, 
spiritual, circumstantial, were not to be limited to 
self but were given for the good of others. For 
this he labored and for this he lived. 

True goodness of heart will always manifest itself 
in this abnegation of self. It is the first principle 
in Christian morals, that no man liveth to himself. 

He whose course on earth affords the grand model 
of holy living, to all his disciples to the end of time, 
while on earth was as one that serve th. He tells 
us in so many words, that he came not to be minis- 
tered unto but to minister ; that is to serve, to wait 
upon others, for their comfort and salvation. And if 
we would imitate our Divine Master ; if we would 
live a true life, a life redolent with blessings to 
others, we must, in this respect, be like our Divine 
Master. And in this respect, he whose memory is 
so dear to us all, is a bright example. Like David, 
" he served his own generation. 7 ' The life he lived 
was a blessing to the men of his own time. He 
acquired a familiarity with the wants and woes of 
the men and women around him, and it was his 
delight to supply and alleviate them. Where there 
was want he strove to supply it ; where there was 
ignorance, he strove to dispel it ; where there was 
sorrow, he strove to soothe it ; where there was 
suffering, he strove to alleviate it ; where there was 
guilt, he was pitiful and tender, if by any means the 
wrong doer might be reclaimed. How often in the 
midst of business matters, or in deep study, was he 



25 

interrupted by the calls of charity, those who knew 
him best alone can say. And yet these frequent 
calls never disturbed him, never caused him to shut 
his door against the face of any poor man. His 
request personally to me was to call upon him at 
any time, when the needy, sick and especially the 
soldier required assistance. I need not add that I 
ever found him ready to listen and to aid. And as 
in my daily walks I pass some house where his 
bounty has been bestowed, or think of those whose 
last hours have been soothed by his benefactions, I 
cannot but exclaim, " Blessed be the man who pro- 
videth for the sick and needy ; the Lord shall deliver 
him in the time of trouble." On the very day of 
his funeral in this place, a soldier of his country and 
of the Lord Jesus Christ passed to his rest, whose 
comfort was ministered unto by our departed friend. 
And in this respect his example is worthy of 
imitation by those possessing wealth. He being 
dead yet speaketh to the living. And I ask, Do we 
possess the lively interest we ought to have in the 
men and women of our time 1 Divested as they 
may be of that enchantment, which to many, hangs 
about the unknown and the remote, can we yet 
persistently labor for them % Oh, think how soon 
the opportunity of helping them will have slipped 
away from us. Our own generation — how rapidly 
is it passing away ! In a very little while we, as 
members of it, will have disappeared. The graves 
are ready for us ; every moment is precious ; then, 
every call is worthy of our attention ; every fellow 
creature we know and can influence for good we 



26 



should feel bound to serve to the utmost of our 
ability. This is our work ; here is our sphere. 
Now, in the fleeting* present, is our only time — our 
fitting opportunity. 

But, I notice, in the next place, that in J. A. 
Roebling the working man had a true friend. I 
need no labored argument to prove this ; the multi- 
tudes of working men who, for hours poured into 
the chamber of death, to take one last look at the 
familiar features of him whom they knew to be 
their friend, proved this. There were saddened 
countenances, and flowing tears coursing down the 
cheeks of men who seldom weep. Capital and labor 
are struggling for the conquest, chiefly because there 
is not that co-operation aud hearty sympathy ex- 
isting between the two. Capital is not the poor 
man's enemy, but, rightly used, his best friend. We 
have a noble illustration of this in the history of the 
departed. By his genius and commanding intellect 
he opened up a new and extended field of enterprise 
and blessing to his fellow man. Impassable rivers 
and mighty chasms are bridged ; employment is given 
to thousands in a new field of industry ; large capital 
has been invested, and employment is given to the 
working man. We can readily see what a benefit 
has been conferred by this new branch of industry. 
Not only have the operatives been well paid, but 
the means have also been furnished for enlarged 
gifts to the sick and suffering. I know from a 
conversation with the deceased a few weeks before 
his death, how dear to his heart the interests of the 
working men were. His prominent thought then 



27 

was : Educate the working man ; give his children 
the best schools in the country ; then we shall have 
intelligent labor, inventive genius, and strikes, the 
bane of the working man, will be at an end. And 
in this connection he was desirous of having reading 
rooms opened in this city, and doubtless if he had 
been spared would have provided them. In all my 
ministrations in this vicinity, I never yet heard a 
working man say aught against the deceased. No, 
" none knew him but to love him ; none named him 
but to praise." 

But I must pass on ; and I think it will be no 
violation of confidence if I mention, as illustrating 
the religious views of the deceased, the subject 
matter of a conversation, some weeks after receiving 
the injury resulting in his death. A deep thinker 
on all subjects, the deceased had formed high and 
exalted ideas of the paternal character of God. He 
saw His guiding power in the winds and waves ; in 
the mighty fields around us ; and also recognized 
God's hand in the molecular arrangement of the 
crystal or the movement of the floating atom. He 
believed in no doctrine of blind chance, but in all 
events, even the most trying and afflictive, recog- 
nized a merciful Father's direction and care. I well 
remember, when speaking of the injury that it then 
was thought would confine him to his chamber but 
for. a few weeks, I remarked: "It seems a strange 
accident, that at the beginning of so great a work 
you should be laid up for two or three months." 
He replied : " There is no such thing as chance ; all 
is wisely ordered." I then recalled to mind a con- 
versation held two or three months before, when 



28 



the deceased stated that he felt stronger in spirit 
and soul then, although his body might have passed 
its prime. " Yes," he replied, " this body may be 
torn limb from limb, but the soul cannot be injured ; 
it shall live for ever. Matter and spirit are both 
from God. All the multitude of animal tribes 
around us, which fill the earth, air and sea, were 
created out of nothingness by the word of the 
Almighty ; and so, also, the bodily part of man ; but 
it was not so with the soul. God breathed into 
man's nostrils the breath of life. The body was of 
His will ; the life was of Himself — life of life. Faint 
images of Himself were stamped like incomplete 
creations upon the animal world around him — 
images of reason — likenesses of the living spirit that 
was in Him. There are lessons to man even in the 
brute creation around ; but in man only have we 
the immortal, living principle that shall live on for 
ever and gloriously expand." Such, in brief, is a 
very imperfect relation of some of the views of the 
departed, and these views are theologically correct. 
As soon as the soul leaves this clay tenement, there 
bursts upon it a scene of infinite greatness. Through 
the low portals of the grave it does pass into the life 
infinite. The limits of time, and the fetters of space, 
and the temporary clog that keeps us down, are all 
gone. In that world all is joy and life. In that 
world there is no ceasing to be ; the separate con- 
sciousness is not swallowed up into universal being 
as the rain-drop is swallowed up by the ocean. 

Such thoughts as these filled my mind as I gazed 
upon the great and good, reposing so peacefully in 
the coffin. And, more than this, I thought not of 



29 



the beauty and comeliness of him that was gone : 
These have faded, oh ! how soon. I thought not of 
his riches : these are left behind ; they were used 
but for the benefit of others. I thought not of his 
acquirements, of his genius, of his fame. But I 
thought of what he was in his inner nature, because 
that is the index of what he is now. For, if here 
the departed was true, noble, pure, brave, loving 
and tender, how must each one of these flowers of 
heaven have expanded in that their truest country ? 
Yes, for the departed life is over with its toils, and 
cares, and perplexities ; the calm is won — the infi- 
nite, unbroken calm. He rests from his labors, and 
his works do follow him. Such a man as John A. 
Roebling always leaves works ; sometimes openly 
evident which every eye can read. I refer not now 
so much to those monuments of his fame, Niagara, 
Wheeling, Cincinnati, &c, &c. ; I refer especially to 
his labors for the good of his fellow men ; his efforts 
to redress evils, maintain truth, establish justice, 
relieve the oppressed. 

And can such a man have lived in vain ? Think 
you his life has been purposeless? Oh, no, my 
friends, every high principle of the life of such a 
man lives, repeats itself again, lays hold upon some 
other heart, raises up another to tread in his steps. 
Every work of love that he has wrought is lifted 
high above our eyes. While the man lives, the 
imperfections of his nature in some degree dim it ; 
but it is lifted up when he is taken from us, and a 
thousand hearts, in the midst of their struggles, are 
encouraged to persevere, to be loving, true, tender, 
kind and benevolent. 



30 



And this life is in each one before me. There 
may be differences of position, of intellect, of 
ability ; but every one can be true, kind, benevo- 
lent. God did not breathe into your nostrils the 
breath of life that you might grovel, mole-like in 
the dust of the earth, living for self alone ; but for 
higher, holier and nobler purposes. Oh ! ye rich 
men, listen to the whispering voice that rises from 
the grave ; relieve the distressed, the widow and the 
orphan ; listen to the sorrowful tale of the pqor 
man, and for you shall ascend the prayers of the 
widow, the outcast, and the oppressed, and your 
dying moments will have no sad thoughts of oppor- 
tunities of usefulness neglected, and wealth misspent. 

But time admonishes me that I must close this 
imperfect tribute of respect to the memory of the 
great and good. But one thought presents itself on 
which I will dwell for a moment, and it is this. The 
time of departure to each one from earth is definitely 
fixed. It is not an affair of chance. It is not left 
to the will of men. It is not dependent upon the 
progress or retardment of disease. It is ordered of 
God. Doubtless, there is much of truth, then, in the 
statement that " each of us is immortal till his work 
is done." Now, this thought may serve to correct 
an error into which we very commonly fall, with 
regard to the death of men eminently great or 
useful. We too often speak of such an event as 
untimely or as premature ; but it can only be so 
from our point of view — not certainly from God's. 
We do not read the secret processes going on in each 
other's minds, and, therefore, we often know nothing 
of the mellowing and ripening for heaven, which is 



31 

progressing in the soul. We do not know what 
particular measure of work and responsibility has 
been devolved upon each, and we are, therefore, 
incompetent to state when the one has been com- 
pleted and the other fulfilled. This we know, how- 
ever, that there is a separate award for each in the 
future ; and we may therefore, rejoice in the belief 
that God does not take any home till His grace has 
fully fitted them for their coronation glories and 
high immortal happiness in His presence. Besides, 
when we speak of the death of the good as, in any 
case, premature, we seem to forget that God has 
other worlds than this, and other spheres of service. 
May not those who are taken from us so mysterious- 
ly, apparently before their time, be needed in the 
court above for employment and offices, whose 
importance and dignity surpasses all that imagina- 
tion can conceive of? Sure, I am, that wherever 
heaven may be, it has its own arrangement for 
sacred service and occupation. The soul does not 
sleep, but goes on expanding in the realms of upper 
day. 

But I must close. The noble, true, loving and 
tender spirit has been removed from the scenes of 
his earthly labor. No monument of towering mar- 
ble chiselled by the sculptor's skill is needed to 
record his memory or his fame. The proud mem- 
orial of his genius will stretch from the metropolis 
of our country to her sister city on the adjacent 
shore. It will rise, stone by stone, step by step, 
under the loving direction of sons, happy thus to 
honor their beloved parent. Its every detail 
already marked out by the deceased and approved 



32 

by the best scientific men of our country. And 
when the "toilers of the sea" and the stranger 
shall inquire, as he gazes on the serial structure, 
whose the mighty plan that bridged the rapid 
stream, the name of the departed will be heard. 
But not only at the entering in of the sea is his 
name recorded ; it is heard by the mightiest of earth's 
cataracts, and Niagara's deep, eternal diapason 
unites with the iEolian sounds that ever whisper, 
from the lines and chords of the Suspension bridge 
as they vibrate to the summer breezes. Our own 
Delaware, too, has witnesses of his skill, and the 
great West, the waters of the Ohio, and other 
streams are spanned by his creative genius. 

But before I close, I may be permitted to convey, 
on behalf of those intimately acquainted with the 
virtues of the deceased, to the bereaved family of 
the deceased, the expression of our sincerest sym- 
pathy under the deep affliction. May He who 
doeth all things well, bring to their relief the conso- 
lations of religion, and the satisfaction of knowing 
that, as a friend, citizen, patriot, John A. Roebling 
lives in the hearts of this whole community. 

The beauties of his domestic life remain to his 
family as sacred recollections. It is not for us there 
to intrude, or by any attempt to pass them in review, 
or disturb the melancholv but sweet satisfaction the 
memory of them must necessarily inspire. It is for 
us to imitate his virtues, his charity, his kindness, 
his nobleness of aim in life, so that when we go the 
way of all the earth, the world may be better for 
our having lived upon it. 



iUM 28 1907 



